The International Political Economy of Corporate Responsibility: the post-crisis fate of the sustainability agenda

The focus of research on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) over the last few decades has been mainly centered around the relationship between Corporate Social Performance (CSP) and Corporate Financial Performance (CFP) with little attention being placed on CSR as a developing institution. This paper seeks to do just this by defining and approaching the corporate sustainability agenda from a Historical Institutionalist perspective and observing the affects of the global financial crisis upon corporate commitments to these agendas in terms of financial contributions and CSR initiatives reported. This is done by studying fluctuations in the commitments of 13 of the world’s largest banks over the five-year period of 2007-2011. The main question addressed is whether the financial crisis has hindered or facilitated the institution of corporate sustainability. The result was that the crisis indeed had a negative affect on CSR commitments but they were limited and temporary. The general trend over the five-year period despite the fluctuations was positive revealing that the financial crisis has played a role in facilitating the further embeddedness of the institution.